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platanus's review
2.0
Read it as an adventure book rather than a novel. The characters are all gimmicks, the events are mostly coherent and easy to follow. I just don't like books where the protagonist overcomes everything by being super special and granted means and powers that don't feel earned.
demimancy's review
3.0
I am at a point in my Dungeon Master career in which I have research to do that only exists in the novels. Saturday morning adventure, wildly out of order in a series—it’s like I’m 13 again.
This was good, and more importantly, it gave me ideas.
This was good, and more importantly, it gave me ideas.
dark_reader's review
3.0
A well-done 1930's adventure serial style romp. A deadly island! Lost cities! Dinosaurs! Cannabalistic goblins! Magical servants! The protagonist, Artus Cimber, is a flawed, obsessed, good-hearted, and lucky adventurer, pursuing rumors of a legendary magical item which he has sought for years. His quest takes him to the island of Chult, where his coming sets off nation-rattling events. He is an enjoyable character, as is his prime nemesis. Even the wombat twins fail to be excessively annoying, despite their best efforts. If this were written by R.A. Salvatore it would have gone quite over the top, but Lowder writes with just enough restraint to avoid becoming ridiculous.
[a:James Lowder|102143|James Lowder|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1524864043p2/102143.jpg] also wrote the third book in the Empires trilogy (also in the Forgotten Realms novel series), Crusade, and events in that book are referred back to tangentially in spots, in a tasteful manner. The Ring of Winter is part of 'The Harpers' soft series, but the connection to that group is very tenuous; Artus Cimber is a former Harper who left the association, and while there was a threat that the Harpers would raise their collective head early on, the story really had nothing to do with them, except wherein Cimber's personal qualities were in alignment with their general goals. It was a better book for this.
I have been reading the Forgotten Realms line of novels in publication order, and with this, I am done with 1992! Audible sigh, why did I partake of this unforced quest? This particular book is a little rarer than most, I had to pay about three times the usual price to get my hands on a copy (physical, not e-book). I suspect that it had only a single print run; I further suspect that the 'Harpers' series was not as popular as others (*cough* Drizzt *cough*); certianly the two books in the Harpers line that preceded this were quite bad. Later Harpers books in that crossed over with other series (such as those written by [a:Elaine Cunningham|31|Elaine Cunningham|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1510147543p2/31.jpg] or [a:Ed Greenwood|20513|Ed Greenwood|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1248120586p2/20513.jpg]) had better sales, I think.
[a:James Lowder|102143|James Lowder|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1524864043p2/102143.jpg] also wrote the third book in the Empires trilogy (also in the Forgotten Realms novel series), Crusade, and events in that book are referred back to tangentially in spots, in a tasteful manner. The Ring of Winter is part of 'The Harpers' soft series, but the connection to that group is very tenuous; Artus Cimber is a former Harper who left the association, and while there was a threat that the Harpers would raise their collective head early on, the story really had nothing to do with them, except wherein Cimber's personal qualities were in alignment with their general goals. It was a better book for this.
I have been reading the Forgotten Realms line of novels in publication order, and with this, I am done with 1992! Audible sigh, why did I partake of this unforced quest? This particular book is a little rarer than most, I had to pay about three times the usual price to get my hands on a copy (physical, not e-book). I suspect that it had only a single print run; I further suspect that the 'Harpers' series was not as popular as others (*cough* Drizzt *cough*); certianly the two books in the Harpers line that preceded this were quite bad. Later Harpers books in that crossed over with other series (such as those written by [a:Elaine Cunningham|31|Elaine Cunningham|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1510147543p2/31.jpg] or [a:Ed Greenwood|20513|Ed Greenwood|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1248120586p2/20513.jpg]) had better sales, I think.
mw2k's review
2.0
A fun and easy read, but utterly devoid of any kind of character building or tension. This is certainly one of the more popcorn Forgotten Realms outings.
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